In the second of this weekend’s two matches, Winnipeg rolled to a weekend sweep with a 3-0 victory on Saturday night.
Men's Volleyball (Canada West conference match)
Saturday, January 14th, 2017
Dr. David F. Anderson Gymnasium, Winnipeg, MB
FINAL 1 2 3 SCORE UBC Okanagan (4-10) 18 17 19 0 Winnipeg (6-8) 25 25 25 3
WINNIPEG, MB - The UBC Okanagan Heat men’s volleyball team dropped both matches at the University of Winnipeg’s Dr. David F. Anderson Gymnasium this weekend, falling 3-0 on Saturday night. Set scores were 25-18, 25-17, and 25-19.
With the loss, the Heat’s record in conference competition this season is 4-10, while the Wesmen improve to 6-8.
The Heat’s Kyle Hinchey was the most successful attacker in the match, finishing with 14 kills. Lars Bornemann was behind him for the Heat, earning the second-most kills with nine. Taylor Howe set the pace for Winnipeg, earning 10 kills, while Casey Schouten was close on his heels with nine.
As a team, the Wesmen had the better night statistically across the board. Their blocking was the biggest difference-maker, though, as the home side finished with nine kills to the Heat’s three.
The first set was close until the technical time-out, at which point the Wesmen were up 16-13. Six attack errors by the Heat from that point onwards allowed Winnipeg to string together points, and extend the lead before Taylor Howe scored the final point of the opening set to clinch it. The Heat had more kills in the set (12-10), but their twice as many attack errors (8-4) negated that slight advantage.
The second set saw the Wesmen lead throughout. Scoring the first point on another Howe kill, they never allowed the Heat a lead. Again the set was close to the midway point, with the Heat down three at 18-15. A four-point run, coming on two Heat errors, a service ace, and a kill, gave Winnipeg a significant lead at 22-15. Their hitting closed it out, with two more kills, before another Heat error marked the final point. Winnipeg took the edge in kills in the second, 15-7, while each team made five attacking errors.
The final set saw the Wesmen extend their lead much earlier than in the first two, putting together a three- and a four-point run to go up 12-5. The Heat put together a four-point run of their own, that included three kills, to make it 20-15, but three Winnipeg kills and two Heat errors closed out the set, and the match, for the Wesmen.
The UBC Okanagan Heat (4-10) will play their next matches at home in Kelowna, when they host the nation's top ranked team in the Trinity Western Spartans (13-1) on January 20 & 21. The University of Winnipeg Wesmen (6-8) play next on the road against the University of Regina Cougars (0-14) on those same days.
~ Grayson Leahy, UBC Okanagan